For some of us, meeting new people sucks. Small talk. Struggling for shared interests. Forgetting names. But when we share our stories, we can connect on an emotional level. And that's where the fun begins. Chris Tomlin talks about telling stories, making friends and growing beards.

Why swap a career in bookselling for a life of moloko, ultraviolence and a bit of the old in-out in-out? Writer and performer Fat Roland long felt a connection to the works of Anthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange. This is the story of how a former bookseller found a horrorshow (good) rabbit (job) at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, the famous author’s estate, archive and event space based in a converted Victorian Manchester mill.

After experiencing meeting, interviewing, collaborating, and working with some inspiring individuals in Japan, Hamid Shahi decided to reach out to his friends to initiate a global collaborative community with other amazing creative people who are interested in joining together and contributing to projects in pursuit of a higher purpose.

At Unify Design Art, we believe everyone is creative and we think of designers and artists as people who exhibit the attitude, approach and abilities of forward thinking. We believe that creators around the globe can support and inspire each other to make positive change in their local communities.

For us it’s not a question of thinking or doing, but what to think about and how to do it through unified systems and strategies.

Exploring design ideas and how tacit knowledge influences how we produce work as designers and makers. For Jonathon Briggs, it’s in the fabric of your thought process, having a poor memory helps too! It allows you to see something new in everyday objects and re-interpret their meaning.

How do you look at the ordinary everyday and turn it into meaningful stuff, then navigating how you post-rationalise this into a commercial product? How does this work in a creative studio, does it liberate everyones thinking or become an insular creative process?

Community consultation is essential to successful design: architects need to understand how people use existing spaces before setting to work. However, this process often follows an uninspiring, tried and tested formula. In her presentation, Gillian Harrison will explore a range of emerging techniques that encourage collaboration and engage local people, ultimately leading to the design of happier and healthier places for all.

Let Science In The Bath's Matthew Shribman take you on a journey exploring the problems of food production and why you probably shouldn't eat beef...

Background

Matthew Shribman runs the world's fastest growing bath-based science channel "Science In The Bath" on Facebook and YouTube, where his videos have amassed over 10 million views. He also does short facts in the shower and occasionally interviews animals on Instagram.

Besides his science presenting, Matthew is an innovation consultant, working with numerous startups ranging biotech, supply chain, education, agritech and smart city technologies.

In his spare time, Matthew has written and produced songs featured by BBC Radio 1, NME, Guardian, Clash and 6Music. His music, under the name Ash Lad, has been championed by The Times on its list of Hottest Tracks. Matthew is now working with Alt-J’s award winning producer, Brett Cox.

Finally, Matthew is a science and maths tutor, with an enthusiasm for inspiring curiosity and a longterm love of learning in his students around the world.

Jon Gildea began mountain bike racing at the age of 13 and represented Great Britain as a junior rider. He always remained a keen cyclist and in 2012 he was badly injured in a mountain bike accident and broke his left leg badly. This injury meant that he was now eligible for para-cycling events and after being classified as C5 he was accepted onto the British Cycling Paralympic Development programme in 2013.

After joining the Great Britain Cycling Team in 2013 Jon made rapid progress on the track and road, his career highlight so far becoming a double world champion at the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles.